At last year’s E3, a seemingly Inglorious Basterds-inspired Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 was revealed by Gearbox. A new discovery may hint at the game being in trouble, however.

First, if you need a refresher on the game, here’s a look back at the game’s reveal during Ubisoft’s E3 2011 press conference:

So why the concern? Not much has been heard about the game since that reveal, but that’s happened to a lot of games. However, what doesn’t happen to a lot of games is having their trademarks abandoned. As you can see from these two links (link 1, link 2), the trademarks were considered abandoned by Ubisoft last month. If the game is still being worked on, why in the world would you abandon the trademarks for said game?

Ubisoft isn’t saying much about Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, but they did make one statement to Kotaku:

“We don’t have anything to share at this point in time.”

Again, if everything is going along fine with a game’s development, that’s not the type of statement you usually make.

Update: GamesRadar received a statement from Ubisoft’s legal team about Brothers in Arms: Furious 4. While it seems to clarify the situation with the trademarks, the site notes that absolutely no statement was made as to the current status of the game itself. Here’s the statement:

“Initially, Ubisoft submitted the trademarks on behalf of Gearbox with Gearbox and Ubisoft as co-applicants. The [United States Patent and Trademark Office] rejected this approach (about 9 months ago), noting Gearbox’s exclusive registrations for all Brothers in Arms trademarks. Given the USPTO choice between abandonment or continued administrative confusion on the matter, we simply opted for administrative abandonment until re-filing becomes necessary. To avoid confusion with the USPTO, Gearbox will be filing its future Brothers in Arms-related trademarks directly and individually.”

Eric L. Patterson got started via self-publishing game-related fanzines in junior high, and now has one goal in life: making sure EGM has as much coverage of niche Japanese games as can realistically be crammed in. Eric’s also active in the gaming community on a personal level, being an outspoken voice on topics such as equality in gaming and consumer rights. Stalk Eric on Twitter: @Eric_EGM. Meet the rest of the crew.